Sheffield Wednesday: Madine shines on Owls return

Dom Howson

Owls old boy Gary Madine has been challenged to build on his fine display against his former club.

Gateshead-born Madine, who made over 100 appearances for Wednesday, led the line superbly in relegation-threatened Bolton Wanderers’ narrow loss to Carlos Carvalhal’s charges on Tuesday.

The lanky forward netted on his first to Hillsborough, cancelling out Fernando Forestieri’s stunning opener, and could have scored more had his finishing been better.

Bolton boss Neil Lennon said: “I thought Gary Madine was outstanding. I hope he was not just saving that because he was playing at Hillsborough and wanted to prove a point. I need more performances like that from him.”

The former Celtic boss praised Bolton’s spirited showing, claiming the basement battlers deserved much more from an entertaining contest.

“I thought we were excellent,” said Lennon. “Our reaction to going a goal down twice was really good.

“In the second half we had two or three great chances to win the game. I didn’t feel we deserved to lose. We were playing against a team who’ve invested a lot and I was very encouraged by the performance.

“It was good as we have played away from home in my time here and it gives me a lot of encouragement going forward.”

The Lancashire club, without a win on the road all season, face a winding-up petition hearing on Monday and are having to offload their top performers to stave off the threat of administration.

Mark Davies appeared set to join Carvalhal’s revolution after Wednesday had a £750,000 bid accepted for the midfielder last week. However, Davies, who sat-out the midweek tussle, has failed to agree personal terms with the Owls and a deal looks unlikely. Fulham are thought to now be eyeing up a move for Davies, who is Bolton’s longest-serving player.

“It’s becoming farcical because there is no information,” said Lennon.

“I’ve not seen Mark Davies since Thursday. I don’t know if a deal has been done or not. If the deal is going to go through, I would like to know one way or the other.”

“He could have been playing for me and I can’t afford to lose that quality of player.”